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Paint and Assemble Railings
Painting Rail Parts:
Use interior semi-gloss latex paint. Details can be painted
with 'Samplers', which may be a lower-gloss finish (harder
to clean) or with craft paints. For Railings, I use 1" foam
brushes and a
" flat bristle brush.
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Paint the parts the first coat. The first coat mostly soaks
into the wood, filling and reinforcing the grain so the sand-
ing step clips off the fibers and leaves the surface smooth.
Resist sanding before painting - it will leave the surface
fuzzy and make a smooth finish harder to achieve. The
quality of your final finish is dependent on the quality of
the sanding after the first coat. Do not go back to re-paint
just because the paint has soaked in. Just a bit of paint left
on the surface tells you you have put on enough to saturate
the grain, which is the right amount. More paint than that
will only make sanding harder.
Assemble Rails
1. Paint and sand the rail parts before assembly.
a. Paint (first-coat) the Rails, wipe any paint out of the grooves,
and do not paint the Rail ends at all.
b. Lay a hand full of Dowels on a sheet of paper. Dab and roll the
Dowels with a foam paintbrush or small-celled sponge until they
are lightly painted... less paint is better.
c. Spread the painted Dowels on waxed paper. Separate and
move them around every few minutes as the paint dries.
Paint all of the Dowels; let the paint dry
d. Lightly rub the dowels around with sandpaper (a small
handful at a time) to sand off the raised grain.
Second-coat the paint after
the Railings are assembled
Sand everything. Sand until the paint is smooth and "silky"
feeling, transparent, and some of the wood is showing through.
Fold the sandpaper as needed to keep it fresh.
Paint the second coat. The second coat goes on smooth and
creamy with enough paint on the brush so it is quiet while you
are brushing the paint out, but not enough to leave puddles or
drips.
Primer is designed to help paint stick to an impervious sur-
face or to join layers of dissimilar paints. In this application,
the first coat of paint soaks right into the wood and fills the
grain - you could do that with primer, but its job of being an
interface between different materials doesn't apply here. In
this application, primer just adds steps and expense except as
of a first-coat for white or off-white colors.
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